Earth scraper



Feb. 2'1, 1939. E E H, GEEENE Re; 21,008

EARTH SGRAPER Original Filed Feb. 11, 1936 IN V EN TOR.

4Reissued F eb. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EARTH scimmia Original No. 2,073,391, dated March 9, 1937, Se-

rial No. 63,440, February 11, 1936. Application for reissue June 9, 1937, Serial No. 147,284

6 Claims.

'Ihis invention relates to an improved earth scraper and more particularly to a scraper of the type used for grading roads and fields and filling hollows with soil or other material scraped from 5 high places by a blade mounted at the front of the scraper.

One object of the invention is to provide a scraper so constructed that it may be mounted lo upon a tractor with the blade in front of the road or ileld as the tractor moves along the same.

Another object of the invention is to provide the scraper with a scraping blade mounted for vertical. adjustment relative to the surface of l5 the road or field and having improved means for adjusting the blade and supporting it at a desired elevation. y

Another object of the invention is to so con- ,0 struct the adjusting and supporting means for the blade carrying frame that power for effecting vertical adjustment may be obtained from the tractor to whichthe frame is applied, thus making manual adjustment unnecessary and lre- ,5 ducing labor on the part of the operator of the scraper. Another object of the invention is to provide means for removing strain from the supporting means for the blade carrying frame and preventing damage due to excessive strain when lo shifting the frame upwardly to elevate the blade.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the scraper that it may be easily applied to a tractor of a conventional construction and not effect the balance of the tractor when applied thereto.

A further object of my invention is to provide an earth scraper having mechanical meansv whereby the blade may be positively raised and lowered.

A further object of my invention is to provide an earth scraper which includes a cross shaft, mechanical interconnectingV means whereby rotation of the cross shaft will raise or lower the ,i blade, and mechanical transmission means interposed between a power take-off shaft of the tractor and the cross shaft whereby the cross shaft may be selectively rotated in either direction.

n The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the scraper applied to a tractor, the blade being shown in a lowered position in full lines and its elevated po- 5 sition being indicated by dottedlines.

tractor where it will act upon the surface of the ing fields, removing snow and the like from highthat by swinging the side bars about their pivots Figure 2 is a top plan view of the scraper with parts omitted, for sake of clearness.

Figure 3 is a sectional view upon an enlarged scale taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a. fragmentary sectional view illus- 5 trating the means for tightening the drum encircling bandsishown in Figure 3.

This improved scraper or grader, as it maybe referred to, may be used for scraping roads, levelways and streets or for any other purpose for which it is found suitable. It is adapted to be mounted upon a tractor of a conventional construction and it is to be understood that the tractor shown in Figure 1 and indicated in general by the numeral I may be of any desired construction and of any size desired. The blade 2 is disposed in front of the tractor transversely thereof at an incline and carries mounting bars 3 which extend rearwardly from adjacent it's ends, a brace l being provided to maintain the blade at the desired angle. 'Ihese side arms carry pivots 5 near their rear ends and, from an inspection of Figure 1, it will be apparent the blade may be, shifted from a lowered position in which it has scraping engagement with the ground to the raised position indicated by dotted lines. Stems or rods 6 are secured at their lower ends to the side bars 3 by fasteners I and their 3o upper portions pass through forward portions of arms B carried by and projecting forwardly from levers 9, the lower ends of which are pivotally mounted at opposite sides of the tractor as shown at I0. A nut or equivalent fastener I I retains each arm in engagement with the cooperating stem 6 and a spring I2 is mounted upon eagh stem to absorb shocks received if the blade encounters an obstruction such as a large rock or the like as the tractor moves across a eld. When pull is exerted upon the levers 9 to swing them rearwardly the side bars will be swung upwardly to elevate the blade and the blade will be supported in the vertically adjusted position. Large springs I3 which are anchored at their rear ends to end portions of a cross bar I 4 at the rear of the tractor have their front ends connected to links extending rearwardly from upper ends of the levers 9 and upon any inspection. of 50 Figure 1 it will be readily seen that pull exerted by the springs will resist forward movement of the levers and thus assist in supporting the weight of the side bars and blade and remove strain from mechanism by which the levers are swung rearwardly land retained in the adjusted positions.

'I'he adjusting mechanism for the levers includes bars I6 which are pivoted at'their front ends to upper ends of the levers and extend rearwardly therefrom at opposite sides of the tractor with their rear ends pivoted between ends of lever arms I1' carried by a shaft I8 mounted in bearings I8 and extending longitudinally of the cross bar I4. This shaft carries a worm vgear intermediate its length mounted in a housing 28 and rotary motionds imparted to the shaft by a worm mounted in the auxiliary housing 2| at the top of the gear housing 28 and meshing with teeth of the worm gear. 'Ihe shaft A22 of the worm projects rearwardly from the auxiliary housing or chamber 2| and carries a sprocket wheel 23 and it will be apparent that when rotary motion is transmitted to the shaft 22 by the chain 24 trained about the sprocket 23 the shaft I8 will be rotated and the blade raised or lowered according to` the direction in which the shaft I8 is turned. When rotation of the shaft I8 is stopped the levers 8 will remain in the position to which they have been moved and the blade supported either in contact with the ground or in an elevated position. As the springs I3 exert pull upon upper ends of the levers strain upon the shaft I8, companion worm gear andworm, and the chain, will be removed and danger of the chain being broken by the weight of the blade and side bars eliminated.

The power for imparting rotation to the shaft 22 is to be obtained from the power plantfof the tractor and upon referring to Figure 3 it will be seen that it is directly obtained from a shaft 25 which may be referred to as a power take-off shaft and projects rearwardly from the tractor frame A transmission housing 26 is secured in any desired manner to the tractor frame about the shaft 25 and has a head or wall at its rear end formed with a bearing 21 through which is journaled a hollow shaft 28 carrying at its rear or outer end a sprocket wheel 28 about which is engaged 'the chain 24. This shaft 28 fits loosely about a stubshaft 38 formed at its frontr end with a disk 3| which has face to face engagement with a disk 32 formed at the end of the power take-off shaft 25 where it is firmly secured by bolts 33 which not only secure the two disks in engagement with each other but also serve to secure the disk 3| in a recess or seat 34 formed in a heavy disk or fly wheel 35. Sets of triple gears 36 are carried by ythe fly wheel in spaced relation to each other circumferentially and constitute elements of a planetary gearing. While two of the triple gears appear in Figure 3 it is to be understood that three are used and spaced from each other an even distance. Each of the triple gears consists of three gears 31, 38 and 38 which are rotatably mounted by a stub shaft or pin 48 projecting from the iiy wheel, it being understood that the gears may be separately formed andsecurely fastened to each other or formed as a unit. 'I'he gear 31 meshes with a gear 4I keyed to the hollow shaft 28 and the gears 38 and 38 mesh respectively with gears 42 and 43 formed about the extended hubs 44 and 45 of drums 46 and 41. The drum 41 and its hub fit loosely about the shaft 28 and the drum 46 and its hub are free to turn about the hub of the drum 41. The gear 31 is smaller in diameter than the gear 38 but larger than the gear 38 and the gears 4I, 42 and 43 'are also of differenty sizes from each other so tha `will be imparted to the triple gears by meshing of the gears 38 with the gear 43 and rotary motion will be transmitted through the medium of the gears 31 and 3| to slowly rotate the shaft 28 and sprocket 28 in one direction whereas when the drum 46 is held stationary and the drum 41 left free to turn the gears 38 by meshing with the gear 43 will impart rotation to the triple gears and rotary motion in a reversed direction will be transmitted to the shaft 28 and sprocket 23 by way of the gears 31 and 4|. It will thus be seen that by securing the proper drum against rotation the direction in which the shaft 28 rotates may be controlled and consequently the shaft I8 caused to turn in a direction to swing the levers or crank arms I1 either upwardly or downwardly and raise or lower the blade.

In order to selectively hold the drums stationary the drums are encircled by bands 48 and 48 having ears at their ends through which pass rods 5|l and 5I. These rods are each rigidly secured at one end through a side wall of the transmission housing by a nut 52` and each carries abutment collars 53 which' may be nuts and are spaced from each other so that the ear at one end of a band may be disposed between the abutment collars. The other end portion of each rod `is slidably received in a cap or plunger 54 which projectsl through the opposite side wall of the housing 26 and springs 55 are provided about the rods between the ears at opposite ends of the bands so that the bands will be normally held expanded and out of gripping engagement with the drums. Pressure upon the outer end of a cap will force it inwardly in opposition to action of the spring carried by the companion rod and the band will be contracted about the drum to tightly grip the drum and prevent rotation thereof. 'I'his inward movement of the caps is selectively effected by a cam plate 56 pivotally mounted as shown at 51 and'having semicircular arms 58 and 58 which bear against the caps of the two rodsand when the plate is swung about the pivot fastener in a predetermined direction a selected one of the caps will be forced inwardly and the desired band tightened about the companion drum. An arm 60 projects upwardly from the outer end portion of the cam plate and at its upper end is secured to the rear end of a link or strip 6I which extends longitudinally of the tractor at one side thereof and at its front end is secured to a lever 62 mounted vertically in such a position that it can be easily grasped by the operator of the tractor who occupies the seat 6.3. It Awill thus be seen that the operator of the tractor may easily cause the blade to be raised or lowered and the blade will remain in the adjusted position. As the springs i3 exert pull upon the levers 8 strain upon the gears, sprocket chain and pivot fasteners back of the levers will be removed and the weight of the vblade and side bars will not cause damage to these parts.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In combination with a tractor, a scraping blade in front of said tractor, bars extending rearwardly from said blade and pivotally mounted at sides of the tractor, stems rising from said bars and having threaded upper end portions, levers pivotally mounted at opposite sides of the tractor back of said stems, arms projecting forwardly from said levers and slidably fitting about said stems, the stems being shiftable vertically through the arms, springs coiled about the stems between the arms and lower ends of thestems for re-` sisting upward movement of the stems through the arms and absorbing shocks, nuts threaded upon the upper ends of said stems and engaging said arms to compress and tension said springs, means for shifting the levers rearwardly to verticallyadjust the bars and'blade, and'resilient means for yieldably resisting forward movement of the levers.

2. In combination with a tractor having a power take-01T shaft'at its back, a blade extending transversely of the tractor at the front thereof, and having rearwardly extending arms pivoted to the tractor,` levers for adjusting the arms vertically and maintaining the blade in an adjusted position, a shaft extending transversely of the tractor back of said levers and rotatably mounted, crank arms carried by said shaft and connected with said levers, a worm gear carried by said shaft, a Worm meshing with said worm gear, a transmission shaft aligned with the power take-off shaft of the tractor, means for transmit'- ting rotary motion from the transmission shaft to said worm, and transmission gearing between the power take-off shaft and transmission shaftfor selectively controlling directional rotation of the of the bands, springs about said rods between the ears of the bands to normally hold the bands expanded and out of gripping engagement with the drums, caps slidably mounted upon said rods and each having one end bearing against an ear at one end of a band, and means for selectively forcing the caps longitudinally in a` direction to contract the bands about the drums and hold a. selected' one of the drums stationary.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein the transmission shaft and gearing are mounted 'in a housing secured to the tractor about the rear end A`portion of the power take-off shaft, said gearing including drums and bends about the drums to selectively hold the drums stationary when tightened, and means for tightening said bands comprising rods carried by a side wall ofthe housing and extending transversely of the housing through ears at ends'of the bands, abutments Acarried by said rods and each engaging an ear drum and effect rotation of the transmission shaft in a desired direction.

5. In combination with a tractor having a power take-off shaft, a blade extending transversely of the tractor at the front thereof, and having rearwardly extending arms pivoted to the tractor, levers for adjusting the arms vertically and maintaining the blade in an adjusted position, a shaft extending transversely of the tractor and rotatably mounted, crank arms carried by said shaft and connected with said levers, a worm gear carried by said shaft, a worm meshing with said worm gear, and transmission means operatively connected between said power take-off shaft and said worm for driving said worm in either direction, and which includes a planetary transmission for selectively controlling directional rotation of said worm whereby said blade may be raised or lowered into various vertical positions.

6. In combination with a tractor having a power take-off shaft, a blade extending transversely ofthe tractor at the front thereof, and having rearwardly extending arms pivoted to the tractor, a shaft extending transversely of the tractor and rotatably mounted, mechanicalinterconnecting means operatively connected to said shaft and said arms whereby upon movement of said shaft said arms are moved to raise or lower said blade, a. worm gear carried by said shaft, a Worm meshing with said worm gear, and transmission means operatively connected between said powertake-ofl' shaft and said worm for driving said worm in either direction, and which includes a planetary transmission for selectively controlling directional rotation ofsaid worm whereby said blade may be raised or lowered into various vertical positions.

. i JOHN H., (im 

